


One Big Happy Family — *Katara*

by HufflepuffChildOfApollo



Series: One Big Happy Family [3]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Ember Island (Avatar), Enemies to Friends, Gen, I got to write the Ember Island Angst Scene for this one, I'm happy about that, Iroh (Avatar) is a Good Uncle, Mom Friend Katara (Avatar), More of a strict timeline, Stubborn Katara (Avatar), This one's a little different from the others, Toph Beifong and Zuko are Siblings, Western Air Temple, Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck, enemies to family
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-03 19:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,171
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24940876
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HufflepuffChildOfApollo/pseuds/HufflepuffChildOfApollo
Summary: Katara's journey from hate to acceptance to friendship.
Relationships: Katara & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar), Toph Beifong & Zuko
Series: One Big Happy Family [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1799011
Comments: 30
Kudos: 1084





	One Big Happy Family — *Katara*

**Author's Note:**

> You have no idea how hard that summary was.
> 
> Alternate title: 'everything's okay, for now'
> 
> Featuring: the Ember Island scene that was supposed to be in Toph's chapter but, due to reasons called frustration, ended up here instead, with Katara in the mix.

_Loathing_. 

Unadulterated loathing is all Katara feels when she looks at him. 

The nerve _—_ the very _nerve_ of him to come walking right into their midst, admit to hiring an assassin to kill them, and then ask their _forgiveness?_ To be a _part of their group?_

Katara's angry enough; when he pathetically offers himself up on his knees as their _prisoner,_ she feels sick. 

She watches him scamper away like a rat, like a _coward,_ and is glad to watch him go. She knows he won't stay away, though — they'll have to take a watch, make sure he doesn't get in again. 

Part of her hopes he _will —_ she hasn't had a lot of practice with combat forms since they left the North Pole. 

The next morning, Toph is missing— when she finally turns up, crawling into the Temple through a tunnel she's bent, her feet are blistered — _burned._ Katara's rage triples _._

_Zuko._

Katara barely hears Toph say it was an 'accident' — you don't _accidentally_ burn someone's feet. Especially if that's all they have to navigate their surroundings. 

If you have an _'accident'_ like that, Katara thinks, you're not fit to be around other human beings. 

[×]

Combustion Man appears — Zuko _conveniently_ shows up at the same time. Katara wonders how much Zuko's paid him to stage a fight. However much, it's clearly not enough — Zuko gets blasted off a ledge.

Sokka's boomerang saves the day, hitting Combustion Man in the forehead. The explosion-bender, well, _explodes,_ along with half the cliffside he's on. 

Somehow, that leads to where they are now — standing in the Air Temple, facing Zuko. Katara had to admit, his act is good — he even apologizes for burning Toph's feet. 

Aang offers to let him join them. 

Toph agrees immediately. Katara grits her teeth. She'd expected this. 

Sokka agrees. _Traitor._

Finally, Aang turns to Katara. 

And she wants to refuse, she's been planning on refusing —

But Aang _needs_ a firebending teacher, and what other choice do they have?

"I'll go along with whatever you think is right," she finally answers, glaring at Zuko. The firebender's face lights up. 

[×]

Later, Sokka has shown the firebender to his room. Katara's followed, waiting for her brother to leave before stepping into the doorway. Zuko seems lost in thought, smiling absent-mindedly; then he looks up.

Katara gets right to the point.

"You might have everyone else here buying your...transformation, but you and I both know you've struggled with doing the right thing in the past," she says, approaching Zuko. He swallows, looking guilty. _Good._ She continues. 

"So, let me tell you something, right now. You make one step backward," she pauses to glare at him. "one slip-up, give me one reason to think you might hurt Aang, and you won't have to worry about your destiny anymore. Because I'll make sure your destiny ends right then and there. Permanently."

She turns before she can see his reaction, and strides out, slamming the door shut. 

[×]

The firebender makes himself right at home. He drills Aang aggressively, he goes fishing with Sokka. Katara finally caves and lets him make dinner once she's kept him in her sight long enough that she's convinced he's not hiding poison somewhere on his person. She still serves the food, though, and waits until he's taken a bite before she eats. She's not taking any chances. 

_Everyone must be out of their minds_ , she thinks, _comfortable as they are with him._ It seems like almost daily that Sokka's coming to her with another story, how, _Zuko said this_ or _Zuko did that._ Aang's always proud to show off the forms _Zuko_ showed him. Even _Haru_ doesn't seem to mind. 

It's not until one frosty night when she catches Toph sneaking into the firebender's sleeping bag with him, that Katara's _certain_ they've all descended into madness. 

[×]

Sokka and Zuko go on a hunting trip. 

They come back in a Fire Nation airship, with Suki, a man named Chit Sang, and...

"Dad!" 

Katara runs forward to embrace her dad, tears clouding her vision. 

"How are you here? What is going on? Where did you go?" Her last question is directed toward Sokka and Zuko, who both look incredibly pleased with themselves. 

"We kind of went to a Fire Nation prison," Sokka answers. Dad chuckles, pulling Sokka into the hug. 

Toph says something snarky, because of course she does, she's _Toph_ , but Katara barely hears it, and doesn't care. 

He's back. Her dad's back, and everything's okay for now. 

[×]

Azula decides to pay a surprise visit. The Western Air Temple is destroyed, and they're forced to evacuate. 

They're outside on the beach, clustered around a campfire, and everyone's praising Zuko for his brilliant display of _human decency._ Everyone except Katara, who's apparently the only one with common sense any more. 

Maybe it's her separation from her dad right after she's got him back, or the fact that Dad seems to have already accepted Zuko as _one of them,_ but this all just feels _wrong._

"I don't deserve this," Katara hears Zuko say over the cheers. 

"No kidding," she agrees. 

The silence is deafening. She leaves the campfire. 

Zuko _follows,_ because _of course_ he does. Confronting her about her lack of trust, like he's forgotten everything he's done. 

_Why doesn't he **get it?**_

"What do I have to _do?"_ he asks, angry, as if he has any right. 

"Maybe you could reconquer Ba Sing Se in the name of the Earth King! Or, I know, you can _bring my mother back!"_

The words fly out of her mouth. She isn't sorry. Not for him. 

[×]

He's outside her tent when she wakes. Waiting. _Creep._

But then he says he knows who killed her mother. 

That he'll take her to him. 

Katara packs her bags. 

[×]

Aang, in typical Aang fashion, tries to talk her out of it. Says that revenge isn't the right way, that it won't end well. Sokka agrees with him.

Katara...says some things she shouldn't. Sokka's hurt, she knows. But so is she. And right now, when she's so close to getting closure, getting justice, she can't dwell on it. 

She and Zuko sneak to Appa in the dead of night. 

Aang is waiting. 

But...he lets them go. Only asks her to choose forgiveness. 

She won't, but she doesn't say it. Zuko manages to get the point across well enough, in his own sarcastic way. 

Then they're flying through the clouds, following Zuko's directions. 

[×]

They find him. 

He's walking home from the market when they stop him. 

He's pathetic. Old and grey. Henpecked.

He doesn't even _recognize_ her. Doesn't recognize the girl he made motherless. 

When he _does_ recognize her, his halfhearted plea of forgiveness is almost laughable. He offers his _own_ mother as a payment — a little too eagerly. It sickens Katara. 

Yet...She can't do it. Can't kill him, can't take her revenge on this...shell. It won't do any good. 

She turns and walks away. 

[×]

Katara sits on a boardwalk, on Ember Island, their new hideout. 

She looks up as Aang and Zuko approach.

"Katara? Are you okay?" Aang asks. 

"I'm fine."

"Zuko told me what you did. Or what you didn't do, I guess," he says. "I'm proud of you."

"I wanted to do it," she admits. "I wanted to take out all my anger at him, but I couldn't. I don't know if it's because I'm too weak to do it or because I'm strong enough not to." 

"You did the right thing. Forgiveness is the first step you have to take to begin healing." 

Katara shakes her head, rising to her feet. 

"But I didn't forgive him. I'll never forgive him."

She smiles at Zuko, walking to him. 

"But I am ready to forgive you."

The firebender is surprisingly warm as she hugs him. _Now I understand why Toph sneaks off to his bed every night,_ she thinks with a smile. _I might have to take a page from her book._

"Toph will pummel you," Zuko says, as if he's read her mind. 

"You're right," she says. 

And just like that, they're laughing together, and she's not angry at him. Aang's watching like a proud dad, which is kind of weird to think about.

Everything's okay, for now. 

[×]

They go to see a play about themselves, because what group of conceited teens _wouldn't_ want to watch a play about their lives? 

This group, halfway through the first act. 

They keep watching out of morbid fascination anyway. 

There are some funny parts; the way "Zuko"'s hair gets increasingly ridiculous, and how "Toph" is played by a large, muscular man (which Katara's pretty sure is one of Toph's favorite moments in her _life)._ But on the whole, it's a badly acted, badly casted, badly characterized _mess_. 

Katara doesn't think much is going to come of it. 

She's wrong, and now Aang is moping because she doesn't know how she feels about him, and Zuko is pissed off about...his scar being on the wrong side?

It's not that big a deal. There were far worse visual mistakes in the play. Katara's pretty sure Aang will be forever scarred by seeing himself as a woman. Katara herself is pretty ticked off they made her a busty, _clearly_ adult woman instead of at least _trying_ to get someone who looks a little younger. But it's just a play, there's no need to be torn up about it. 

But Zuko is. 

The firebender sulks all the way home, and locks himself in his room as soon as they get back to the house. 

Katara figures it'll blow over — until she gets up for a drink of water in the middle of the night, and finds Toph standing outside Zuko's room. 

"Something's wrong," she whispers, unusually serious. "I can hear....He's _crying_." 

Katara leans her ear on the door, listening; sure enough, she can make out quiet sobs, and... _what's that smell?_

Alarmed, she pushes the door open, and the smell of smoke hits Katara full on. She holds her breath, hoping that what her dad told her about your brain oozing out your ears if you hold in a sneeze isn't true. She doesn't want to risk startling the firebender, who's on the floor in the center of a circle of blackened floorboards.

His head is down, shoulders shaking, on his knees with his hands at his sides. The ends of his sleeves are singed, and the remains of the curtains still smolder on the walls. The only thing that looks relatively unscathed is a painting clutched in Zuko's hand; an old man with a kind face, smiling out of the frame. Zuko's Uncle.

Zuko doesn't look hurt, at least. Charred flesh isn't among the other burning smells in the room. 

The floor creaks under Katara's step; Zuko looks over his shoulder, unscarred eye wide. 

Katara jumps behind the door, pulling Toph with her. 

She hears footsteps cross the floor. The door swings closed, the lock clicking loudly as the key turns. Katara lets out a breath and walks back to her room. She doesn't even remember her water. 

[×]

She heals Zuko's lightning wound, but even without Toph's seismic sense she can feel the stuttering in his heartbeat. She knows it's not good for him to be on his feet for long. She leads him to where Toph, Sokka and Suki stand with Appa, watching with worried expressions. Azula's screams echo off the buildings, blue flames bursting from her mouth as she's hauled away, and Katara knows Zuko's pained expression isn't just from the lightning.

"I'm fine," Zuko wheezes at Sokka's worried look. Sokka doesn't look at all convinced — maybe even more worried. 

"You need to lie down," Katara says, gently pulling Zuko toward Appa. Sokka takes Zuko's other arm, shifting a little of his weight off Katara's shoulders, and Katara makes an effort to convey a silent message to him with her eyes; 

_Help me take care of him. He needs a family._

As a team they lead Zuko over to where Appa lays and rest him against the mountainous pile of white fur, before laying down on either side of him themselves. Almost instantly Toph muscles her way into the space between Katara and Zuko, wrapping her arms around his middle. 

"It's normal," Toph says to Sokka, puzzling Katara, but then she feels the heat coming off Zuko and understands; if not for Toph's assurance, Katara would think Zuko had a raging fever. 

Sighing, she curls up, reaching across Toph (who's already asleep) to lay a hand over Zuko's heart; gradually, she feels his heartbeat even out.

She knows he'll need to see a real physician; but for now, the best thing to do is let him rest. 

_And,_ Katara thinks, _I need rest too. We all do._

She curls up and closed her eyes, trying not to think too much. There'll be time to fix all of Sozin's and Azulon's and Ozai's damage in the weeks and years to come.

But everything's okay, for now. 

**Author's Note:**

> This turned out a little messier than the others, so I hope it's okay


End file.
